Oasis may be saved yet – here’s the latest
Menlo Park City Council member Ray Mueller has been in conversation with both the Tougas family (operators of the Oasis) and the Beltramo family (owners of the building) and late this afternoon sent an email to City Manager Alex McIntyre and City Attorney Bill McClure saying that he is “cautiously optimistic the pieces are coming together that will keep the Oasis restaurant operating in Menlo Park…”
He wrote: “The Tougas family gave me permission today to share publicly they are open to speaking to potential operators interested in licensing or buying the trademark, brand and menu of the Oasis, and operating the restaurant in a way that gives credit to the restaurant and [the] family’s history and place in the Menlo Park community.
“This past week I also spoke to Mr. [Dan] Beltramo. His search to find a new operator for the site is continuing and in process. He very much would like to have a discussion regarding parking capacity at the restaurant’s site.”
While the restaurant will probably still close on March 7, it will “hopefully only be a temporary closure,” according to Council Member Mueller.
Photo of Oasis showing crowd lined up at the door (woman in yellow is first in line) taken shortly before noon today by Linda Hubbard (c) 2018
p perret March 02, 2018 at 6:43 pm
I don’t see the “crowd lined up at the door,” but as a close-by Allied Arts resident, I can attest to the unusually crowded parking on Cambridge and other streets starting at 11AM or so. Based on this story, I think it is clear that the Tougas family has (had?) no serious interest in continuing operating the O.
KC Fassbender March 03, 2018 at 7:43 am
The Tougas were bullied and forced out. Beltramo is greedily deterimined to expand and make as much money as he can at the location; expanding parking, selling hard liquor and mixed drinks, adding to seating capacity, and so on. The Tougas, who have successfully run the business for 60 years, know that this is not a good plan and want nothing to do with it. “The Oasis” brand and menu belong to them, are they just supposed to hand it over for free to their bully of a landlord or, worse yet, take the name and history and bury it out of spite? Good on them for offering to license it!
Mary March 03, 2018 at 9:06 am
From the info I have read the Beltramo Family originally opened the Oasis and the Tougas Family took over in the 50’s
Lynda Ballard March 03, 2018 at 8:08 pm
In 1958 Bernie Tougas leased a restaurant from the Beltramo family. He renamed it The Oasis. He simplified the menu and soon became the success you now know and love.
Linda Hubbard Gulker March 04, 2018 at 1:46 pm
Alex Beltramo named it the Oasis following the repeal of Prohibition, e.g. no longer dry. A Menlo Park family, the Marshalls, operated it for about a decade between the Beltramos and the Tougas families.
SK March 27, 2018 at 12:06 pm
Lynda – What is the best way to contact you?
YSK March 04, 2018 at 9:36 pm
I don’t like this plan. It’s going to become a millennial/tech hangout. Over priced, pretentious, and unwelcoming to the people whom have been hanging out there for years.
Don’t we have enough of that crap in Palo Alto?